This invention relates to an improved paint tray ASSEMBLY and, more particularly, to a paint tray with a brush holding attachment for simultaneously accommodating both a paint roller and a paint brush.
Paint rollers have been used for over thirty years, and are typically used with a paint tray that has peripheral walls that surround a sloping bottom wall to define a paint reservoir. The roller is rolled or dipped into the reservoir to gather paint, and is then applied to the surface to be painted to thereby roll the paint thereon. Paint rollers are easy and convenient to use, and make it possible to paint a large surface in a relatively short time.
It is a disadvantage of paint rollers that they cannot be used on or close to woodwork, fixtures or other objects that protrude from the wall, such as door or window molding, electric outlets, and corners. To paint in such locations, it is the practice for painters to carry a separate brush, so that in those small areas which the roller applicator cannot reach, the brush is used.
Since extensive amounts of painting are performed while the painter is on a ladder, it is desirable for the painter to have both a paint roller and an auxiliary paint brush within his reach. Otherwise, the painter must repeatedly go up and down the ladder for his painting implements, and this tires the painter and reduces his efficiency by lessening the percentage of the time that he is actually painting.
Painters have attempted to carry the auxiliary paint brush in various ways, none of which has proven satisfactory. Some painters have attempted to lay the brush on the sloping bottom wall of the paint tray, but this commonly results in the brush sliding downwardly into the paint thereby covering the brush handle with paint, and also has interfered with the dipping of the roller into the reservoir. Other painters have attempted simply to hold the brush in one hand while using the roller in the other hand, but this has proven unsatisfactory because the brush either drips, contacts a surface which it is not desired to paint, or slips from the painter's grasp.
In an attempt to solve the foregoing problem, U.S. Pat. No. 2,909,797 to White discloses a combined paint roller tray and paint brush tray. The paint brush tray is positioned adjacent the forward end of the paint roller tray, and has a transverse dimension greater than the width of the paint brush. This arrangement has the disadvantages that the brush tray protrudes a substantial distance from the roller tray, the brush handle protrudes from the front end of the tray and is likely to be bumped accidentally, and the brush tray can accommodate only a single paint brush.
Other attempted solutions to the problem disclose means for clipping a paint brush to a paint tray, or attaching a paint brush holder to a paint tray. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,837,034 to Leffert et al. discloses a paint roller tray with a brush clip secured to one of the side walls for storing a paint brush, but requires that the height of the side walls of the paint tray be greater than is conventional. A paint brush holder for attachment to paint cans is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,748,977 to Sarchet. Despite the availability of the Sarchet device for about twenty years, nobody has conceived of a paint brush holder suitable for use with conventional paint trays of various sizes.
Still other attempted solutions to the problem of the temporary storage of a paint brush during use -- each of which fails to meet the problem satisfactorily -- are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 1,764,763 to Stang, No. 2,259,927 to Dunton, No. 2,661,858 to Howell, No. 2,676,730 to Hedglon and No. 2,705,334 to Farrow.